By Tilotama R Marak
Tura, Nov 9, 2021: The Garo tribe, living in the Garo Hills district of the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, celebrates the Wangala, their most significant post-harvest festival, during October-November.
The festival is a thanks giving ceremony to Misi Saljong, also known as Pattigipa Ra’rongipa or the Great Giver, for having blessed humans with rich harvest of the season
The festival has been practiced traditionally by the Garos from times immemorial. It is performed mostly by non-Christians or Songsareks, of Garo Hills, but the time and dates of celebration vary from one village to another.
However, due to the impact of modern civilization and foreign culture, the Wangala, the cultural identity of the Garos, was seen fast disappearing. So to protect, preserve and promote their cultural identity, a group of Garo intellectuals has been organizing the Wangala festival on modern lines.
A group of 30 dancers with 10 drums would form a contingent and 300 dancers make up the “100 Drums Wangala Festival.”
The first 100 Drums Wangala Festival was successfully organized on December 6-8, 1976, at Asanang, the headquarters of Rongram Development Block in West Garo Hills district, near Tura. Since then, the Wangala is being organized in the second week of November and the festival has grown over the years under the patronage of the Meghalaya government and nurtured by the festival organization.
And since the festival has grown with participation of both national and international tourist, therefore the committee members had recently selected the “A’chik Heritage Village,” a proposed permanent site at Wangala A’dam, Chibragre near Tura which would also host different activities in line with the cultural identity and traditions of the Garo tribe.
This year, the 44th Hundred Drums Wangala Festival will be held at the proposed permanent site of A’chik Heritage Village at Wangala A’dam, Chibragre from November 11-13 by adhering to Covid-19 protocols.
A day ahead of the Wangala, a ritual called the Rugala is performed by the Nokma or the village chief and in this ritual, the offerings of the first hand special rice-beer along with cooked rice and the vegetables are given to the Great Giver.
The next day, the chief performs Cha’chat So’a ceremony or burning of the incense at the central pillar of his house to mark the beginning of the week-long Wangala festival.
With the advent of modern civilization and Christianity, only a handful of the Garo non-Christians or Songsareks could be found in the villages of Sadolbra, Gondenggre, Babadam, Chidaogre, where they live in harmony practicing animistic rituals.